Bird
Watching Trips:
If you need help organizing a bird watching trip to Thailand,
take a look at the suggested itineraries for ideas on
creating a tailor-made trip and contact me for advice:
Thailand
bird tours.

IntroductionIn the past I have enjoyed many day trips to Bang Pra
where a good mixture of open-country, grassland, wetland and even
woodland birds can be found; it was always an excellent place to see
quail and buttonquail. However, in recent years the water levels of
the lake have been maintained at very high levels and have reduced
the amount of grassland habitat to almost zero and the marginal habitat
has been severely degraded by overuse by local people.

I decided to spend a morning at Bang Pra to see whether it is a location
which remains worthwhile for birdwatchers, or one to forget about.

Additionally, I wanted to go to the waterfront at Sri Racha, where
some years ago I had seen Black-naped Tern, to check if that species
was still present there.

Getting
There
I used a hire vehicle that I was in possession of, but any vehicle
would be suitable for this journey as all the roads are good.
I took the expressway out of Bangkok and headed towards Suvarnapoom
airport. When getting close to the airport I followed the signs
to Chonburi via the "motorway" (signposted as such
in English). I followed this until it split into two; the turning
being either for Chonburi or Pattaya - the Pattaya turning is
the one to take. After several more kilometres signs for Khao
Khieo open zoo and Bang Pra appear and follow the instructions
as given in my Bang
Pra page.

To get from Bang Pra to Sri Racha, I just went back to the motorway,
headed south and followed the signs to Sri Racha. When at Sri
Racha waterfront head for the public pier where you can park.

Accommodation
I did this as a day trip from Bangkok, but if you should wish
to stay in the area there are many places to stay on the coast
at Bang Saen, Ang Sila, Sri Racha or Pattaya.

Food
At Bang Pra itself there is no food. However, if one just drives back
to the motorway and over it, there is a passable small restaurant
on your right. I had lunch on the pier at Sri Racha where lots of
seafood dishes are available very cheaply. Food and drink is safe
at any roadside foodstall or restaurant in Thailand.

Notes
I left Bangkok at a little after 5am and arrived at Bang Pra for first
light at around 6.15am. Driving along the road which encircles the
site I saw a lot of activity on the overhead wires and trees. Stopping
briefly I saw a male Laced Woodpecker, several White-crowned Laughingthrushes,
some Greater Racket-tailed Drongos, a Rufous Treepie and a Lineated
Barbet - a very pleasant start to the day.

However, when I drove down the dirt track to where I usually park
the car, near some sort of staff compound, the gate was locked. Although
this was a bit strange I found space enough to park (I discovered
on a subsequent occasion that the staff were concerned about vandalism.
When they saw me they opened the gate for me and told me in future
to let them know I wanted to park and they would unlock the gate).

The next thing that I discovered is that the mud wall between the
main lake and the small lake has been breached and the water level
in each is the same, meaning that water levels in the main lake are
very high, leaving most of the former grassland habitat inundated;
this was a disappointment. So far things seemed to have taken a turn
for the worse at Bang Pra.

From the parking area I walked north along the track and then along
the paved trail to where I used to see plenty of grassland birds,
including quail. The situation was a mess! No grass existed at all,
the whole place was flooded and with overuse by the locals the margins
were extremely trampled and littered. The next area I knew that might
have some suitable habitat was a long walk, so I turned around and
looked elsewhere.
Back at the car I walked along the paved trail southwards around the
small lake. This takes you through a wooded area where I saw a few
Black-naped Orioles, Racket-tailed Treepie and Greater Racket-tailed
Drongo. This trail soon came out onto the southeastern edge of the
main lake where I was greeted with the sight of reedy pools, grassland,
scrub and marginal wetlands - hey, it looked like I might find some
birds after all!

I
walked off the trail a little into some good habitat and the
birds began to come quickly; Yellow Bittern, Cinnamon Bittern
and Black Bittern all showed quite soon and a Siberian Rubythroat
in the tangles soon came out after a little call playback. Just
standing in one place with a good view I soon spotted some Chestnut-capped
Babblers showing nicely in the waterside vegetation as well
as Oriental Reed Warbler and Black-browed Reed Warbler; all
birds I expected to see at this site. However, a bird I did
not expect to see was perched in a bare tree about 100 metres
away, giving me good views through my telescope - a Rosy Starling
in breeding plumage! This is quite a rare visitor to Thailand
so when it was joined by 2 more I was even more surprised. I
eventually got much closer and got excellent views of the three
of them.

The remainder of the morning continued in the same vein with
many good birds around and it brightened up my mood regarding
the situation at Bang Pra. Although there has been much degradation
of the habitat, many interesting birds are still to be found,
one just has to look a little harder and move around a little
more than in the past. I found several Painted Snipe, Pheasant-tailed
and Bronze-winged Jacanas, 2 Oriental Darters sat in a bare
tree, Bright-headed Cisticola, Yellow-eyed Babbler and a number
of other interesting species. However, I still had not found
any habitat that looked like it would hold a quail.

However, my luck was about to change; as I took a short cut
across a dry grassy area I noticed some movement next to a bush.
I managed to get my binoculars on the source of the movement
and got a brief but clear view of a pair of Barred Buttonquail.
This piece of grassland was right next to the circular paved
trail around the small lake and raised above the marshy areas,
making it much drier and ideal habitat for some quail, so I
slowly walked around it in search for some other species.

It turned out that I was right, and I managed to get a good
view of a single Yellow-legged Buttonquail and some a few more
Barred Buttonquail before I flushed a Rain Quail from its hiding
place; it was kind enough to land on a bare piece of ground
for a few moments where I could see it briefly.

Birdwatching
Trips To Bang Pra Reservoir: If you have only a day or two for
birding from Bangkok, Bang Pra is an excellent location,

coupled with a visit to Muang Boran Fishponds. At
any time of year a good selection of colourful birds
are present and in the dry season a whole range
of migrants visit this location.

So,
Bang Pra still holds buttonquail and true quail, they are just harder
to find than in the past and, no doubt, far less numerous than before
due to reduced habitat. In fact, the good number and selection of
species seen in a shirt space of time means that Bang Pra is still
an excellent location for a morning's birding.

After this success I decided to investigate other parts of the lake
by car. Quite frankly, the high humidity and heat at Bang Pra is always
an issue and I was happy to get into an air-conditioned vehicle for
a while. I drove round to the southernmost tip of the lake. Here there
was an obvious route into a grassy area with some marginal habitat
and a sensible place to park next to the road.

Walking into this area it soon became obvious that although the habitat
here had potential, it was dreadfully overused and suffering from
habitat degradation. However, I quickly caught up with a few species
that I had not seen earlier in the morning - lots of Indochinese Bushlarks
and Oriental Pratincoles. Investigating this area was interesting
and much earlier in the morning it may have turned up more species
but I did manage to find Baya Weaver, some Yellow Wagtails, a few
species of waders and a few Paddyfield Pipits before I became too
hot and headed off to Sri Racha!

Birding at Sri Racha consists simply of using a telescope to observe
distant terns and gulls flying around and loafing on the numerous
floating constructions, using the pier as a base. After some time
scanning I saw what looked like snowy white Black-naped Terns sitting
amongst some Whiskered Terns. I walked to the island and got myself
as close to these birds as could where I could get a decent look at
3 Black-naped Terns, a species which is seldom seen from the mainland
in the Gulf of Thailand.

If
you are interested in arranging a bird watching tour you can see some
suggested itineraries here - Birdwatching
Trips - and you can contact me at the above email address to discuss
the best options.